The Samsung Galaxy S4 and S4 mini smartphones have been announced to come with dual-mode LTE support, adding two more variants to the already vast flagship series. Apart from incorporating new connectivity options, Samsung hasn’t carried out any modifications to the design or the internal hardware. What’s more, they’re being touted as the world’s first with support for TDD-LTE and FDD-LTE standards.
The guys over at The Next Web, however, beg to differ as the Grand Era from ZTE had seemingly claimed that title a year ago when it was launched in Hong Kong. For those wondering about the reason behind these new variants for the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S4 mini, the company intends on making the handset compatible with multiple networks across the 4G spectrum. FDD-LTE is basically standardized in most locations. However, some countries including China operate on TDD-LTE, while a few (Hong Kong) have implemented both.
Apart from the Samsung Galaxy S4 and S4 mini, the company has even launched an LTE-Advanced version of the flagship in Korea. This version made its debut last month and has been deployed with a beefed up processor, the Snapdragon 800, which operates at over 2GHz. The dual-mode LTE smartphones will be no different than the originals.
The 5-inch version will come with the same Super AMOLED FHD panel, 2GB of RAM, 1.9GHz Snapdragon 600 processor, 13MP camera and 2600mAh battery. The compact model has a 4.3-inch qHD screen, 1.5GB of RAM, an 8MP camera and various software features which are found in the larger version. Both devices will rock Android 4.2.
No price or release date has been given for the dual-mode LTE Galaxy S4 and S4 mini variants.